The Alphabet of the Sacred with Cyrus Cassells

Is there a mystic in you, a seeker longing to express potent insights? Using poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Mark Doty, Linda Gregg, Mark Strand, and James Wright, among others, “The Alphabet of the Sacred” with Cyrus Cassells, is designed to celebrate your individual spiritual expression through verse. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent political and social turmoil, many writers and readers have experienced a renewed sense of poetry’s sacred power for consolation and truth-telling amid chaos. How have you looked for spiritual meaning and insight in your own work lately? Among the questions to be considered: if language is inherently dual, how do poets convey experiences and visions that go beyond our often polarized, everyday selves? Students are encouraged to share a poem that emphasizes revelation, oneness, and the link between the human and the divine.  

Cyrus Cassells is a poet, translator, and cultural critic. His books have earned the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award, a Lambda Literary Award, and two Pulitzer Prize nominations. He is the 2025 recipient of the Jackson Poetry Prize and has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, and the Rockefeller Foundation. From 2021 to 2022 he was appointed Poet Laureate of Texas and received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. He is a Regents’ Professor and University Distinguished Professor of English at Texas State University where he received the Presidential Excellence Award.

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Poetry as Unburden with Catherine Strisik 

What thoughts do you carry/hide, what keeps you up at night that you are fearful of saying aloud? Join us for "Poetry as Unburden" with Catherine Strisik and refine the art of release. In this generative workshop, we'll write our way toward poems that release our burdens. Whether glory or grime, allow your poetry to spill and meander. To lighten.

Catherine Strisik, award-winning poet, teacher, editor, is author of Goat, Goddess, Moon ( Holy Cow! Press, September 2025); Insectum Gravitis (Main Street Rag, 2019; finalist New Mexico/AZ Book Award in Poetry 2020); The Mistress (3: A Taos Press, 2016; awarded New Mexico/AZ Book Award for Poetry 2017); Thousand-Cricket Song (Plain View Press 2010, 2nd edition 2016);  manuscript: Dear Unholy: (finalist: Two Sylvia’s Press & Elixir Press); was Taos, New Mexico’s Poet Laureate 2020-2021; recipient of Taoseña Award as Woman of Impact based on literary contribution in northern New Mexico; co-founder and editor of Taos Journal of Poetry, on advisory board of Pocket Samovar, is a Pushcart nominee, and has over 35 years of publications with poetry translated into Greek, Persian, and Bulgarian.

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Lush Desert: Writing Contradiction, Juxtaposition and Metaphor with Logan Phillips

If poetry is wrestling into words that which can’t be said in any other way––what are the mechanics of making that happen? Join us for "Lush Desert: Contrast, Juxtaposition, and Metaphor" with Tucson's new poet laureate, Logan Phillips! This workshop will study metaphor, contradiction and juxtaposition as techniques that open language as more than a sum of its parts. We’ll read craft essays, deconstruct contemporary poems and use generative exercises to explore how dichotomy can open unique liminal spaces in our own poems. Throughout, we’ll stay grounded in our context as writers in the Sonoran Desert, itself a contradictory space: a lush desert, a beautiful danger, a cultural landscape of border wall construction and humanitarian aid. 

Logan Phillips is a poet and cultural worker based in Tucson. He is author of the books Reckon (The University of Arizona Press, 2026) and Sonoran Strange, as well as the ongoing NoVoGRAFíAS series. Holding collaboration as a core creative practice, Phillips has contributed to a wide range of performance, music and community-centered education projects in the US, Mexico, Colombia and beyond. His website and newsletter are at Dirtyverbs.com.

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A Fighter Flowers: An Introduction to Concrete Poetry with Amber McCrary

“A shape poem, or concrete poem, is an arrangement of words on a page into shapes or patterns that reveal an image, such as in a calligram. These visual poems are an artistic blend of the literary and the visual arts. Readers experience a shape poem via its words, typography, and the visual representation of the poem’s subject. In this type of visual poetry, the meaning of the poem is enhanced by the shape of the poem itself, rather than the actual words used.” (Masterclass) 

Join us for an engaging workshop where we’ll dive into the world of concrete poetry! We’ll explore the innovative ways that concrete poets have played with language, blending visual, verbal, kinetic, and sonic elements. Through examining various examples, we’ll discover how to create our own shape poems while embracing experimentation. Come ready to unleash your creativity and reshape your understanding of poetry! 

Amber McCrary is Diné poet and zinester. She is Red House Clan born for Mexican people. Originally from Shonto, Arizona and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. She earned her BA from Arizona State University in Political Science with a minor in American Indian Studies. She received her MFA in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry at Mills College. McCrary is also the owner and founder of Abalone Mountain Press, a press dedicated to publishing Indigenous voices. She is a board member of the Northern Arizona Book Festival. She is the AZ Humanities 2022 Rising Star of the year and a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation LIFT awardee. Her debut poetry collection, Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of a Desert is out now from University of Arizona Press. She currently resides on Akimel O’odham lands.

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